History of Tennis

Like cricket, the origins of tennis can also be traced to England. History says that tennis in its current form was played in the British nation in 1870s. A decade later, the British Army and Civilian Officers familiarized India with the game. And in no time, tennis tournaments too were being played in the country: `Punjab Lawn tennis Championship` at Lahore in 1885; `Bengal Lawn Tennis Championship` at Kolkata in 1887 and the All India Tennis Championships at Allahabad in 1910.

As expected, it was the Britishers who dominated the championship in the early years. But along with time, India too began making their presence felt. Mohd. Saleem from Lahore was victorious in the Punjab Championship in 1915 and then did phenomenally well to win successive titles between 1919-1926. Saleem`s win in seem to inspire other Indians too. 1917 saw NS Iyer crowned winner of Bengal Championship and only a couple of years later in 1919, Mr. Nagu won the singles championships at the All India Tennis Championship at City`s Gymkhana Club at Allahabad. The Indians never looked back after that and started dominating tournament after tournament.

As time went along, the need for a tennis association was felt and so in 1920, the All India Lawn Tennis Association (AILTA) was formed at Lahore. Laws of the game were prepared keeping in mind those of the Lawn Tennis Association of Britain. Later in that same year, the first AGM of AILTA was conducted at Town Hall in Delhi and it also decided that the `All India National Championships` would be held at Allahabad annually. AITA decided to decided that each Province should have a Provincial Associations, which will be affiliated to the parent body. These Provincial Associations are today known as State Associations.


The inaugural Inter Provincial Tournament was held in 1922 with Punjab LTA led by Mohd. Saleem. The competition became a regular feature in India until the Second World War broke out in 1939. However, the most important decision made by the members was participation in the Davis Cup. The first set of players to represent India in the Davis Cup in 1921 included prominent names like SM Jacob, Mohd Saleem, LS Deane and AA Fayzee. Their performances were so impressive that they ended up beating the Frenchmen and made it to the semi-finals.

In fact, between 1922-1929 India got the better of a number of strong nations like France, Romania, Holland, Belgium. Spain and Greece. This was largely due to the efforts of greats like M. Sleem, the Fayzee brothers AH Fayzee and AA Fayzee, Cotah Ramaswamy and Krishna Prasad. India`s participation in international tournaments also began in the mid 1900s. BK Nehru was the first Indian to play in the prestigious Wimbledon championship in 1905. In the years to follow, Sardar Nihal Singh, M. Saleem, Fayzee brothers and Jagat Mohan Lal also took part in the tournament.

Ghouse Mohd. India`s undisputed No.1 reached the quarterfinal at Wimbledon in 1939. Fayzee and M Saleem went on to represent the country in the 1924 Paris Olympics also with Saleem making it to the semi-finals in the singles. India continued to reap rich success repeated success at Davis Cup and as well as Wimbledon. And the world began to stand up and take notice.

Once the War ended, AILTA decided to hold one Grass court championship called the National Championships of India and one Hard Court tournament named All India Hard Court Championships. (Even foreigners could take part in the National Championships.) And so the first Grass Court National Championship was held at Calcutta in 1946. Sumant Misra won the inaugural championship beating Man Mohan Lal. But in the years to follow, the foreigners dominated the tournament. In fact till 1955, S. Misra Dilip Bose and a 16-yr-old named Ramanathan Krishnan had captured the crown. There were some big names among the foreigners who won the championship. But Ramanathan Krishnan turned around India`s fortuned winning the title for a record eight times in a row between 1953 and 1964. Other Indians to win the prestigious title comprised Premjit Lal, Vijay Amritraj, Jaidip Mukerjea and Ramanathan Krishnan`s son Ramesh Krishnan.